Journeyman: "Winterland" Review

Dan's leaps into the past attract the attention of the FBI.

The concept of a person traveling through time every week and helping those in need may be unoriginal but Journeyman has found an exciting new way to tell an old tale. After last week's fantastic foray into Dan Vasser's past, "Winterland" takes a step back and resorts to telling a rather formulaic time travel story. However, there are plenty of revelations in Dan's present to keep things interesting and to keep Dan and Katie's life on the brink of falling apart.

Dan's mission this week was a bit of a letdown after the exciting stories from the past couple of episodes. Abby's story simply didn't have the emotional impact that it was intended to and the band of hippies were a cute caricature but that was about the extent of their presence. Also, there were plenty of other events and revelations in the present that far overshadowed the "story of the week." The heavy narrative in the present appears to leave the writers with a problem when trying to create compelling stories in the past. If they focus too much on the past then they are arguably ignoring the best part of the show. Clearly, the series is most successful when the past and present storylines coalesce.

Elliot Langley returns and shares yet another cryptic conversation with Dan. Just like their previous conversation, this one is filled with tons of subtext for each other to decipher. Their dialogue is a lesson in speaking volumes without saying anything at all and while we sometimes wish they would just get to the point it's even more exciting just watching layer after layer slowly unravel from this time travel mystery. Langley's warning seemed to be directed at the FBI who are now breathing down Dan's neck.

It doesn't look like Richard Garrity (Paul Schulze), the FBI lead investigator, is going away any time soon and the episode was laced with subtle hints that he may know more than he is letting on. If Langley is right and the FBI are trying to uncover the time travel technology for themselves, Dan's life is going to get a whole lot more complex than it already is. This is a welcome change and a natural evolution of what has been going on with Jack. Dan versus Jack was getting a little tiresome week after week but thankfully this incident looks like it will unite the brothers.

By far, the biggest revelation this week was learning "when" Livia was from. Just like the possibility that the FBI know about time travel, the fact that Livia is traveling from as early back as the '30s and '40s opens up a whole new facet to this already compelling story. The impact of the revelation is already felt this week with Katie's concern that Dan may never return from one of these missions. It also opens up the possibility that Dan may eventually travel further back than the 1960s and that he may even travel into the future since Livia clearly has the capability of doing this. What's great is that the writers don't even have to exploit these ideas just yet and they can use them appropriately when needed.

When the series first started just a few weeks ago it felt like a closed and formulaic concept with a great cast of characters. Over its short life span it is certainly proving that there is more than meets the eye here and that this story may be every bit as complex as a series like Lost but with a much more approachable format. This series excels at taking a rather over-used facet of sci-fi and completely turning it on its head. To some, Journeyman may be just another sci-fi show but the focus on character and drama are arguably on par with Battlestar Galactica.